


a thousand little pieces, a thousand glowing stars

by rokosourobouros



Category: Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M, Family Dynamics, Gen, Post-Canon, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21976567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rokosourobouros/pseuds/rokosourobouros
Summary: A series of moments between the crew post-Serenity. Except nobody dies, woo!Or; Malcolm Reynolds isn't a dad, never has been, doesn't want to be, except as it turns out, he's got a bunch of kids anyway. Damn it.
Relationships: Kaylee Frye/Simon Tam, Malcolm Reynolds/Inara Serra
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76





	a thousand little pieces, a thousand glowing stars

**Author's Note:**

> I've been getting into the habit of writing fluff (I know, weird, right?) and I LOOOVE firefly. It has its issues! lots of them. but i love my little dysfunctional space pirate crew

Mal Reynolds knew a few things for sure about himself, most of them not terribly flattering. He wasn’t the nurturing type. No good with people. Worryingly adjustable moral compass.

Overall, then, not the kind of man to have a very tired girl sleeping on him. It didn’t make any sense, and trying to calibrate for it just made his head hurt.

It was his own fault, anyway. If he hadn’t gotten into the habit of reading aloud to himself – helps him focus, and get lingering thoughts out of his head – and if he hadn’t gotten so used to River creeping about and making conversation with inanimate objects, then River wouldn’t have been sitting here quietly listening. And now… _now_ she had her head on his knee, hands tucked up underneath her chin and legs folded up underneath her skirt.

Mal put the book down, then leaned his elbows on the back of the couch. “River.”

No response.

“River, that’s my _leg._ ”

Still no response, but he wasn’t really expecting one. She was snoring and everything.

This. This was what he got for having a seventeen-year-old on his crew.

There was a gentle rap at the door, and Mal glanced upwards at Simon, who was blinking down at him from the door. “…I’m going to take it on faith that you didn’t drug her,” he joked, although it fell a little flat. Mal could tell what he was really asking.

“Don’t worry. She just decided I’m a good pillow, which I guess I should take as a compliment, but who knows.”

Simon nodded, his face still a little tight. Mal debated with himself how to respond, then sighed, pushing his hand through his hair.

“If you’re frettin’ about her learning how to pilot-“

“No, no.” It was a pretty transparent lie, and Simon sat down next to Mal on the couch, the tension obvious in his shoulders.

Mal sighed. He couldn’t really blame Simon. It’d been what, three months since Miranda? And River was getting _better_ , but you didn’t spend two and change years watching over somebody like a hawk and get over it immediately.

“Out with it. I don’t have time to spare, doc.”

Simon wisely didn’t point out that Mal couldn’t exactly do _much_ without waking up River, and just slowly uncrossed his arms. “She, uh. She doesn’t fall asleep that easily around _anybody._ ”

Including Simon. Ah. “Well, maybe I’m just a calming presence.”

The doctor managed to turn his snort into a clearing of his throat that _almost_ sounded innocuous. “Right. Definitely.”

It was odd. Some days he wanted to punch Simon in the face. Some days he could see Simon for what he was – a confused kid, still, not certain of his place in the world yet.

Mal raised his hand and brought it down on top of Simon’s head. “You think too much.”

“Probably.”

“Besides, reading seems to make her relax. So you gonna sit here and listen to me read or not?”

Simon chuckled, and he seemed about to leave, resting on his feet and almost – _almost_ – standing up. Mal ignored him, lifting the book and picking up where he’d left off. Ten minutes later, which was immensely sooner than he’d expected, a weight landed gently on his shoulder, and another set of snores joined River’s.

Go figure.

(When Inara caught the three of them like that later, he threatened to throw the book at her. It was his business what he did to calm down, and the Tams falling asleep on him like exhausted schoolchildren didn’t have a single thing to do with him. Besides, River had drooled on him, and he only _had_ two pairs of pants.

Besides, when River woke up with a blanket over her shoulders and a book tucked under her arm, he could always blame it on Simon. Boy had to be good for _something._ )


End file.
